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By Marc Shoffman - Thursday 28th February 2008


Controversy surrounding David Cameron’s remarks about government funding for Auschwitz visits took a nasty turn after a columnist described school trips to the concentration camp as a ploy to encourage support for Israel.

Jewish leaders, still smarting from the Tory leader’s description of funding for school visits to Auschwitz as “a gimmick,” have criticised Daily Mail columnist Peter McKay after he suggested that the visits are based on “the misguided belief that it’ll make them always take Israel’s side.”

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He wrote in the article titled “Horror Tactics” on Monday: “So far as I know, there aren’t any school trips to the scenes of Stalin’s crimes in Russia, Mao’s in China, Pol Pot’s in Cambodia — or any other genocide centres. So why are British children herded round Auschwitz, for which we had no responsibility? I can see an argument for bussing German children there continuously. Except that it might encourage a new strain of the Nazi virus. There’s only one reason I can think of why our children have their noses rubbed in German excrement. It’s not to make sure ‘this never happens again’ — that’s beyond their control. It’s in the misguided belief that it’ll make them always take Israel’s side.”

Lord Greville Janner, Chairman of the Holocaust Educational Trust, which runs the Lessons from Auschwitz project taking two children from each school to the camp, told the Jewish News: “It was total misguided and offensive nonsense. If he talked to some of the young people who have gone on these journeys and knew how they feel I don’t believe he would have written this vile piece.”

Board of Deputies President Henry Grunwald said: “Peter McKay's comments are offensive to the memory of all who died in the Holocaust. His shameful inferences are an insult to the survivors, and to all educators who well understand the need to teach the lessons of the Holocaust in a world where those lessons have, unfortunately, not been learnt."

McKay told the Jewish News that he was sorry for any offence caused to the Jewish community or Holocaust survivors but stood by his comments regarding Israel, he said: “My complaint is against the 'we're all guilty' zealots who shy away from assigning specific responsibility on the Germans.

“I don't see how children could be reminded of what was done to the Jews of Europe by being taken to Auschwitz without this inclining them subsequently to support Israel. Visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington (for an article) certainly had this effect on me. It occurred to me this might have been why the museum is sited on Capitol Hill - to keep the crimes against the Jews at the forefront of lawmakers' thinking.”

It follows the controversy last week over the inclusion of “trips to Auschwitz” in a Conservative Party memo detailing government “gimmicks.” The memo - which also listed “community kitty for every neighbourhood”, funding for flooding” “reversing 24-hour drinking policy” - formed the basis of a speech given by leader David Cameron last Friday. While the party said Cameron was trying to highlight the fact that the trips were not fully funded by the government, his choice of words was criticised by Jewish leaders.

Grunwald said: “The Board of Deputies does not get involved in Party politics but we are surprised and disappointed that David Cameron should in any way have used the word ‘gimmick’ in connection with visits to Auschwitz.” Schools Secretary Ed Balls, meanwhile, called on Cameron to apologise.

Pollock said: “Whilst last weekend’s events were regrettable, the Holocaust Educational Trust remains committed to ensuring as many students as possible are given the opportunity to participate in the Project, to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, to understand the dangers and potential effects of prejudice and racism and to play a positive role in society today.

“The Government’s strong support for this cause and our work is hugely appreciated and of course, any funding commitment in the future from the Conservative Party would be equally welcomed.”

But a Conservative Party spokesperson said people were missing the point. “The point the Conservative Party was making was that the Government sent out a press release promoting its support for trips to Auschwitz without clearly explaining that schools would have to shoulder some of the burden. Under a Conservative Government these trips would be funded in full and schools would not have to find £100 per pupil from their budgets.”

Conservative politicians and members of the Conservative Friends of Israel rallied behind Cameron. Ilford North MP Lee Scott told the Jewish News: “What David said was that the government has promised to fund this and they are now asking children to pay 100 pounds. It’s not the full announcement.”
Richard Harrington, Chairman of the Executive Board of Conservative Friends of Israel, said: “Labour is distorting this for political purposes. David Cameron is a great friend to the Jewish people in this country and a great friend of Israel and it seems to me that it is a great shame that his comments about Labour misleading the public have been distorted to make it appear that he and the Conservative party are against the funding of Auschwitz visits.
“What he actually said was clear and self explanatory.”






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